Cano, Stewart lead Yankees in opener of DH

Tuesday

Aug 20, 2013 at 5:14 PMAug 20, 2013 at 5:18 PM

NEW YORK — Robinson Cano hit his 200th homer among four hits and drove in four runs, Chris Stewart hit a go-ahead three-run drive, and the Yankees rallied to hand the Toronto Blue Jays their record 10th straight loss in New York, 8-4 Tuesday in the opener of a split doubleheader.

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Robinson Cano hit his 200th homer among four hits and drove in four runs, Chris Stewart hit a go-ahead three-run drive, and the Yankees rallied to hand the Toronto Blue Jays their record 10th straight loss in New York, 8-4 Tuesday in the opener of a split doubleheader.

Cano was a triple shy of the cycle on a perfect day at the plate. He hit a three-run homer off Esmil Rogers in the third to pull New York within a run and added a RBI double in the seventh. Ichiro Suzuki singled and doubled, leaving him one shy of 4,000 combined hits during his careers in Japan and the major leagues.

New York's Ivan Nova (7-4) was tagged for four runs in the second inning when Toronto batted around in the makeup of a rained-out game on May 19. But he scattered five hits the rest of his outing that ended with one out and Jose Reyes on first in the seventh inning.

The Blue Jays loaded the bases with two outs on consecutive walks by Shawn Kelley. But Brett Lawrie flied out to center field to end the threat.

Mariano Rivera was called on to get the final two outs after Joba Chamberlain walked Rajai Davis with one out in the ninth.

Chamberlain started the inning by colliding with Reyes while making a tag along the first-base line on the speedy former New York Mets star.

Toronto slugger Jose Bautista was removed from the Blue Jays' seventh straight loss to the Yankees before the bottom of the fourth inning because of soreness in his left hip. The Blue Jays last lost seven in a row to New York in 1999.

During the game, Major League Baseball announced Yankees manager Joe Girardi was fined $5,000 for his on-field tirade after Boston's Ryan Dempster hit Alex Rodriguez with a pitch on Sunday. Dempster was suspended five games.

Yankees fans appeared to ease up on the booing of Rodriguez in the team's first game back in New York after he homered and had three hits to lead a comeback win over Boston following the hit by pitch. When A-Rod ducked out of the way of Rogers' high pitch Tuesday, fans lustily jeered the right-hander.

Rodriguez singled to start the sixth — to cheers — and he scored on Stewart's fourth homer of the season, a shot to left field off Neil Wagner (2-4) that put New York ahead 6-4.

Stewart went 173 at-bats since May 15 against Seattle before connecting for his next homer.

Rogers was lifted after Rodriguez's single. He allowed four runs and seven hits in five-plus innings.

Davis' two-run double with two outs in the second highlighted the four-run second. Maicer Izturis had a run-scoring single, and Kevin Pillar got his first RBI with a groundout to shortstop. Pillar still doesn't have a big league hit, though. He went 0 for 4 and is hitless in 17 at-bats.

Cano had an RBI double in the seventh, and Brett Gardner added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

NOTES: Suzuki has 1,278 hits in Japan and 2,721 in the majors. ... Yankees SS Derek Jeter (right calf strain) played his second simulated game at the team's complex in Tampa, Fla. He ran the bases for the first time. ... Blue Jays RHP Thad Weber was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo on Monday but was recalled as the 26th man for the doubleheader. ... Toronto LHP Mark Buehrle (9-7) is set to start Game 2 against New York RHP Phil Hughes (4-12).